This tournament is a straight ladder, and it runs like this. Each rung/step/level has two players, and in each round of games, one player on that level plays a player on the level above to try to swap places with him/her, while the other player plays the player below to try and not get relegated to that level. The exception is the top rung, which contains just one player who always plays someone on the second step and has to win in order to stay up there.

How the rounds work
Each round of games consists, for now, of just one game between a player on one level playing someone on an adjacent level. This may change if there are vacancies; in this case, the two players on the same step will play each other to see who goes up, the players on the step below them play each other to see who fills that gap, etc.

Finally, the tournament will kick off with the players on the same level playing each other to see which of them will be playing to get promoted and which of them will be trying to avoid being relegated.

Here's a practical example, pretending the admins are all taking part, and assuming for argumemts sake that they're initially ranked by alphabetical order with Nick at the top:

Level 1: nick
Level 2: clooneman, fastboysam
Level 3: katie_bug, luckypot
Level 4: mr_mcquiston, revenge
Level 5: spinner

First round of games between players on the same level to see how it will go from here:

Level 2: clooneman vs fastboysam
Level 3: katie_bug vs luckypot
Level 4: mr_mcquiston vs revenge

Results
clooneman 40-30 fastboysam
katie_bug 50-20 luckypot
revenge 40-27 mr_mcquiston (sorry Dave!)

Second round of games (it's all normal from here on in)
- The winning players from the previous round play a player above them
- The losing players from previous round play a player below them
nick (1) vs clooneman (2)
fastboysam (2) vs katie_bug (3)
luckypot (3) vs revenge (4)
mr_mcquiston (4) vs spinner (5)

The number after the names represents the level the player is at. If the higher player beats the lower player, both stay where they are. If the lower played beats the higher player, the lower player gets promoted a level and the higher level gets relegated a level.

Results
nick 35-34 clooneman
No change

katie_bug 44-33 fastboysam
katie_bug ges up, fastboysam goes down

revenge 38-32 luckypot
revenge goes up, luckypot goes down

mr_mcquiston 50-5 spinner
No change

And the new levels look like this:
Level 1: Nick
Level 2: clooneman, katie_bug
Level 3: fastboysam, revenge
Level 4: luckypot, mr_mcquiston
Level 5: spinner

Then...
Next round:
nick vs katie_bug
clooneman vs revenge
fastboysam vs mr_mcquiston
luckypot vs spinner

i.e. the winning players who got promoted in the previous round play someone above them to try and get promoted again. And the losing players who got relegated in the previous round play someone below them to try and not get relegated again.

And so on and so on.

It looks more complicated than it is. All you have to know is that each week, you get one game, and you must beat your opponent. If you win and you're lower than him/her, you get promoted. If you lose and they're lower than you, you get relegated.

Anyone can join; however, regarding initial rankings, I'm using the final standings in the Double elimination straight pool tournament that I ran at http://www.funkypool.com/thread/18153/double-elimination-straight-pool-tournament with some tiebreakers used to sort out tied players, and those are explained on page 12 on that thread. Here, then, are those rankings:

1. eemad
2. clooneman
3. techno
4. dunkyfunk
5. w_hoolhan
6. dgeneratio
7. darren3
8. tinie
9. the_only_ego
10. long_pot
11. cphaynes
12. punkpoet
13. bulldog_oc
14. liam__scfc
15. eggfriedrice
16. yetty1969
17. cmurphy
18. tony111
19. cke1982
20. stephen

Spoiler alert in the next post: it's complicated looking...

Notes on rankings (!):


What happens next?
Everyone on that list will be invited to take part; after they accept or decline/fail to respond, the participating players will be allocated to the levels/rungs according to that ranking list. New players are also welcome to join, but they must start at the bottom. Then in the first week, two players on the same level will play each other, and then every week after that, players will play someone from a different level to try and move up or avoid dropping down a level. This may change in the coming weeks, and I already have an idea about how, but we'll leave it for now.

sure im interested to see how this runs, if successful i might try it on snooker but with 1 frame of each type

surprised i got 6th place though since im poor in straight haha shows how 1 frame can change everything.

one question, how does the ladder league end?

Edited at 19:27 Mon 05/12/11 (GMT)

It can go on indefnitely, but I have a way to wind it up if needs be, with a winner at the end. And naturally, the player who is at the top for longest can consider him/herself the best.

Invitations were sent out to 15 out of the 20 who took part in the double elimination event. Of those who did not get one, 3 had deactivated, 1 was banned, and I'll let you work out why the 20th player did not get one

so anybody not on that list cannot play? lol

Defiantly in cloone though may have to reread this lmao

oh i see, count me in, ill start at the bottom watch out top

i am in ... clooneman

im in

Excellent....

In so far (in no particular order): punkpoet, the_only_ego, dgeneratio, theukspoon, w_hoolahan, eggfriedrice, clooneman

count me in

I'll play

im in

So can i join....?

Too right I'm in!

Go for it why not

In so far (in no particular order): punkpoet, the_only_ego, dgeneratio, theukspoon, w_hoolahan, eggfriedrice, clooneman, dunkyfunk, beenjammin, cke1982, 9ballsniper1, eemad, liam__scfc

13 altogether so far. Not sure when to kick this thing off, I think that we have 10 out of the 15 people who got invitations from the previous tournament that are here, plus 3 new players. That means that 5 others have yet to declare their intentions. Maybe they haven't read their messages yet... I plan to start it this week though.

13 players means 7 levels altogether, making it a bit of a slog to get from the bottom to the top. I might change that a bit, although it might means players having to play more than one game per week. Or I might just leave it.

Leave it as it is. Let them try and work to the top. Don't want it too easy!

the man starting on the top would say that though

I like the 2 games a week idea myself. Wouldn't take 3 months to climb up there with you, or would it be 6? and only if i never lost one (which I doubt lol)

2 games a week, 6 steps is 3 week isn't it?